Hyper-analytical Medical Environment
Quotes "If we have a patient who is in acute danger of dying from an unknown cause, we resort to the HAM. It'll keep them alive and will make diagnosing and curing a person much easier. It's a very powerful machine. Unfortunately, we have to cut power to thirty sectors of the city in order to keep it running continuously which makes it a last resort only. There are only two of these machines in existence." Theresa Esseker, M.D. | Huygens-Webber University Medical School Professor Definition The Hyper-analytical Medical Environment (HaM) is a medical instrument used to diagnose and treat terminally ill patients. Due to its immense energy requirements and build costs and the expertise necessary to drive the machine, they are extremely rare. To this day there are only two HaMs in existence. The HaM was invented by Feyman House in 2416. History In 2403, Feyman House, M.D. published his first thesis on the application of nanomachinery for practical medicine. While often quoted, House's studies didn't catch the attention of mainstream medical science. Only seven years later, when House was invited by a research committee at the LanternLight pharmaceutical company, his thesis received wider recognition. He was granted 5 million credits in research funds and was given leadership over a research department. His studies quickly showed the very real possibilities of becoming practical. Two years into development, he requested an increased budget of 15 million credits to attempt the creation of the first small-scale prototype of the machine. After a few negotiations, his budget was granted and the prototype was built. It helped realize the real-world limitations of the technology. Unfortunately, the now newly elected committee disagreed with more budget increases and tried dissolving the young department. Weeks went by and most of the team had left their positions in the company when House managed to meet and convince some influential executives within the corporation. They directed a new, topless budget his way and reinstated his team with reinforcements. Over the course of the next ten years, House and his steadily growing team improved and extended the design further and further. Finally, in 2416, House received permission to build the facility on the campus of Vegdehn University now known as the HaM. The building cost for the facility is speculated at about 96 billion credits. It and its counterpart in Huygens on Mars are the two most expensive buildings ever built. Funtionality''' '''Externals The machine consists of a sterile clean room in the middle of which a metal tube is located. This tube has two windows which allow medical staff to observe the patient. The patient is placed inside the tube and the IV line is connected to the machine's injection ports. This allows for the rapid and controlled introduction of special kinds of nanomachines. Nanites These machines are modified medical Nanites equipped with 40 femtoliters of a special chemical mixture named Feymium after its inventor. Feymium is capable of either reviving a dead cell, causing instantaneous mitosis or killing a cell. These three basic functions allow for a wide range of applications. Additionally, they are equipped with three flagella which allow for six degrees of autonomous movement through blood plasma and saline solution. Unlike standard issue Nanites, they are not controlled by external magnetic fields. Instead, every Nanite is controlled by an external computer called the 'hive controller'. Every Nanite is equipped with multiple bio-sensors to monitor individual cells or clusters of cells as to their health, productivity and state of mitosis. Each Nanite has the capability to bind to an individual cell by shooting out a strand of protein mimicking the locking mechanisms of immunoglobulin. Nanites are processed by the kidneys after deactivation, which allows them to leave the body safely through the patient's urine. Infrastructure Every Nanite also possesses a 1000-particle quantum processor which utilizes the concept of quantum entanglement for instantaneous communication with every other Nanite and the hive controller. This allows for groups (hives) of 998,001 Nanites that are aware of the position, task and sensor data of all other units in the same hive and can report and receive real time instructions by the hive controller. Usually, a standard treatment cycle uses about ten million hives which constitute approximately two liters of Nanites. All hives are connected to each other by so-called connector drones. These special Nanites function as antennae for hives and relay information between them. This specialized configuration of autonomously moving, interconnected Nanites, allows the HaM to take information from everywhere in the body with an unprecedented precision and at the same time treat any anomaly immediately. Hive Controller and Containment Tube The tube itself is made from Permalloy based magnetic shielding and also employs active shielding using a precise electromagnet positioned in the pedestal on which the tube rests. The hive controller is a Tier Five Megacomputer. It uses 150,000 high-end quantum chips ranging from 40 million to 200 million particles, which allow for precise instructions and calculations with femtosecond accuracy. All data collected and all information about procedures executed by every Nanite is saved in a yottabyte cache and later stored on an unlimited storage server. The cache limitations allow for a maximum of about 100 gigabytes of data per Nanite. With few exceptions, all data captured is publicly available for research and education purposes. Activation All machinery surrounding the facility is usually turned off, but can be made available in a matter of seconds. For this procedure, thirty of the surrounding power grid sectors are cut off from the grid and the power is rerouted into the facility, charging a capacitor array. The capacitors will be fully charged within 34 seconds if provided full power. Usually, one charge of the array allows for one procedure but if longer procedures are anticipated, the array will retain the connection to the grid. Most of the power is consumed by the hive controller and the active electromagnetic shielding, both of which are immensely powerful. ' Costs' The cost for one procedure is estimated between 235 and 340 million credits, considering power costs, Nanite production and storage, personnel costs and insurance costs for the power outage caused. This is the reason why, while it is theoretically possible to cure most diseases with the machine, it is impossible to use it every time someone is terminal.